The Novelry Blog

The Novelry MA Creative Writing Scholarship.

The University of East Anglia UEA and The Novelry are delighted to announce The Novelry MA Creative Writing Scholarship.

We want to offer 'a year of one's own' to a writer who otherwise might never find the time, space, and support, to get to work on their novel.

Our scholar will have the support of the UEA Faculty of Creative Writing in East Anglia and The Novelry including mentoring throughout the year from prize-winning author Louise Dean and post-MA support to finish the novel to publishing standard and secure literary agent representation.

This is one of the most meaningful scholarships, bursaries or grants for a writer in the UK. The scholarship will be awarded to the candidate who demonstrates and shows the potential for creative excellence in long-form fiction. It is available to UK residents, and open to members and non-members of The Novelry.

The equivalent of an MA, and certified, is our Book in a Year Plan....

Genre is important. Start here, if you will. As I mentioned in our blog 'Get Published', and as we cover in our online creative writing courses, its the first thing an agent assesses on your submissions letter as they start to consider whether to read on and which editor to call for lunch. They'll be looking to check you've used the right ingredients for the genre.

Genres can be individually defined by the particular nature of the key driving force behind your story.

Each genre has its own secret agent of story, and that's how genres can be defined. Make sure you've got the right secret one in the driving seat of your moving vehicle! shall we peel back the disguise? It might be that the commonly held 'drivers' of genre are in fact wearing a mask.

You can find all our hero books here.

Thriller.

Driving Force: the antagonist

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty.

An interesting twist on what you might expect at play here. The plot is driven by the 'bad guy' (the rapist) but...

Convert that commute to a crammer session with inspiring content from fine minds in literature and publishing. These podcasts with writers and editors will prove consoling and cheering, and see you through not just the first draft, but the long haul. Ten great podcasts to keep writers smiling.

How To Get Podcasts. 

All podcasts are free, and most are available via many different apps.

On a website:

You can do this from a computer or from the web browser on your phone.

• Find a website that has podcasts you like.
• Find the player on the page, check your device’s sound is switched on and click play to listen to the podcast.

On your iPhone or iPad.

If you have an iPhone you can use the Apple podcasts app to listen to podcasts.

• The Podcasts app should already be downloaded on your phone so search your apps for ‘Podcasts’. If it’s not, go to the app store and download it.
• Open the Podcast app and go to the search page...

All change.

Last week, on our intensive writers' residential course, we heard from bestselling authors Sophie Hannah and Louise Doughty and from literary agent Tim Bates at Peters, Fraser + Dunlop. The three agreed on one thing. Since 2000 the market for fiction has changed dramatically, and these three long-haul survivors have learnt one lesson very well. The rise and rise of psychological fiction, and the thriller form, has changed the way we want to read books now. The rise of this fast-moving genre coincides with the Age of Impatience and the new media of Netflix & Co. 'What's going to happen, next?' We expect twists and pace. 

The thrills and spills of mainstream fiction via this dark, internalized cloak and dagger genre and it's partners in crime and mystery, has snuffed the life out of the Literary Fiction genre, irreparably it seems. if you want Literary Fiction, see Trollope. Tim Bates made the comment that literary fiction can only make it if there's a...

How to get your entire novel manuscript that final professional polish submission?

It's a two-stage process.

First, DIY. You grow as an author by being able to edit your own novel through numerous passes, and our Editing courses will help you eliminate a few drafts. We'll show you how to do it, giving you a method to last you a lifetime. (Our 'reversible' course is quite a cool way to plan a novel too!)

Second, Professional Help. When you've done multiple successive drafts and cracked story and character development to the satisfaction of any reader, you'll want to dot some i's and cross some t's and you may wisely feel you need another pair of eyes on your full manuscript and some final proofreading beyond the tools we recommend at The Novelry, you'll need some human help which can take into account your creative treatment's quirks and ploys.

1. DIY.

You need to be very hard on your work, and push it through as many drafts as required. As...